This Feb. 2014 photo provided by DoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospital shows socks that were removed from a dogs stomach in Portland, Ore. A 3-year-old Great Dane was miserable, retching and vomiting, when his owners rushed him to DoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospital. X-rays showed a stomach full of what was described as "a large quantity of foreign material." Nearly two hours of surgery later, Dr. Ashley Magee said the dog had consumed 43 ½ socks. DoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospital spokeswoman Shawna Harch says it's perhaps the strangest case in the hospital's history. (AP Photo/DoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospital)

This Feb. 2014 photo provided by DoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospital, shows an X-ray of a dog that consumed a number of socks in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/DoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospital)

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The 3-year-old Great Dane was miserable and retching when its owners rushed him to a northwest Portland emergency animal hospital.

It was something he ate!

X-rays showed a stomach full of “a large quantity of foreign material.” Nearly two hours of surgery later, Dr. Ashley Magee had the answer — the dog had consumed 43 ½ socks.

So strange that the hospital entered last February’s tale, complete with X-rays, in an annual contest sponsored by the vet magazine, Veterinary Practice News, and won a prize. Fittingly enough, the contest is called “They Ate WHAT?”

Even stranger. The $1,500 first place winner was a Plano, Texas, animal hospital that treated an exotic frog that ate more than 30 small ornamental rocks from its cage.

The DoveLewis entry summary says the Great Dane was discharged home a day after surgery. Harch says the owners aren’t available for comment but she confirms the dog is alive. No word on what he’s eaten lately.